Prediction: By the end of this year, media roles focusing solely on traditional media will be near obsolete. (Full obsolescence will come by the end of 2011.)
If your organization is still planning media and marketing in online/offline silos, strategic complications are imminent. Areas of expertise are essential; organizations need specialists to focus on areas of particular complexity -- but the lines can no longer be drawn between online media and offline media. It simply does not make sense -- today, we live our mediated lives online.
You might be asking, "Why is this year so critical? The aforementioned claim could have been made every year for the last five." This is a valid question. The economic shakedown, coupled with vast enhancements in technology, have made it advantageous for marketers to test new, lower cost, and highly engaging digital channels. In addition, consumer adoption of new technologies is evolving so fast, it stands to reason that, as a marketer, you should be prepared for the continuous growth Ray Kurzweil mapped out in 2005.
Adoption of new technology has become so rapid and so mainstream, it is difficult to tell where "offline" media ends and "online" begins. One may even say it no longer matters -- every element in our media ecosystem is, in some way, connected to every other.
Sometimes selling beats telling
"Tell, don't sell" is a popular mantra amongst marketers who believe that a soft sell is largely more effective. These marketers claim education about differentiators and benefits is enough to alter consumer preference. Brand storytelling does not always require a hard sales pitch, but digital technology has put a large degree of control in the hands of consumers, affording them the ability to shape their own preferences, on their own time. The result of this paradigm shift is increasing instances where consumers are actively seeking a particular product or service (i.e., search). As marketers, we need to be prepared to meet consumers when their minds are made up, making it as easy as possible to give them what they want. This meeting ground no longer exists solely on the PC or in a traditional search box.
Imagine that you are sipping a magnificent glass of wine at a party. You may not be a connoisseur, but you are certainly a weekend warrior with a deep appreciation for great wine. You want more information about the heavenly fluid you are consuming, what it costs, and where you can get some for your upcoming soirée. Slyly, you find the bottle and take out your iPhone in order to snap a picture of the label. Within seconds you know everything you need about the bottle, where to get it, and what it costs, thanks to Tesco's new Wine Finder iPhone app, Wine by the Case (iTunes required). You could have done the same search by typing the name of the wine into Google (or your favorite search engine), but knowing this app will get your information faster, why would you search any other way?
(Note: the above user scenario does not posit that this experience is, in fact, better. It was meant to illuminate ways that marketers should consider approaching mobile applications and visual search.)
Image via Econsultancy
With many visual search companies out there (Snaptell / part of A9, Cortexica), Tesco's play was not a technological coup; but as marketers, technological firsts are not necessarily our responsibility. As marketers, our job is to recognize the power of technology, early and often, and realize that a first mover advantage can have a positive impact on our brand sales strategies. If Tesco's application is indeed a better way to get information about a bottle of wine, it may become a favored tool amongst consumers, putting Tesco in a position to sell more wine. It is that simple!
As a retail marketer in the year 2010, you need to be doing everything you can to identify new opportunities that take advantage of emerging mobile and search platforms. Understanding these technologies is now the job of every marketer, as these technologies are blurring the lines between the traditional notion of online and offline. If you are still of the mind that the IT department (or other resident "geeks") will figure this out for you, you are in a lot of trouble.
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